Maintaining peak performance through a 70-game season can be difficult to do. With so many important factors to address such as throwing volume, weight room volume and intensity, post throw, and nutrition; a lot can go wrong in a short amount of time. In this blog we will address a few ways we can manage your workload throughout the season. As we continue to board more and more athletes each day, one common issue our college coaches come across with their athletes is soreness and injury early in the season. I’ll give you three examples: 1. The walk to sprint in throwing, meaning you go from a 20 pitch flat grounds to a 70 pitch live at bats within three weeks. Those who are stuck in a program like this tend to have a sudden drop in velo or achy arms through out the pre-season. 2. The first few weeks blow up. Often athletes can make it through the pre-season with no issues. However, as they continue to long toss, pen, and throw live, they’ll see a sudden loss in velo with nagging arm pain. Finally, the third piece we see is the end of season drop off. This differs a bit from the first two obviously. However, the issue we come across is in reverse order. The pitcher is strong all season but when it matters the most, their velo is down, their secondary pitches aren’t as sharp, and their arm just doesn’t have the longevity it had mid-season.
So how can we address all of these with one rule? Our answer is deload weeks. What is a deload week? We define a deload as one of two options. An athlete can either 1. Cut down their volume in half but maintain the intensity throughout the week or they can2. Cut down their intensity but maintain their volume. We’ve seen it work both ways and it may take a few deloads to understand what is exactly best for you or your athlete.
Now what does this look like? We will start with cutting down the volume. Let’s say your normal moderate/hybrid day throughout the week is 3 plyo drills and long toss. We would simply maintain that intensity of a normal week but reduce their throws by 40-50%. Meaning, if you’re slated for 30 plyo throws you’ll execute 15. If you make 6 throws a teach distance long tossing, you’ll make 3. For a bullpen, you can reduce the amount of bullpen pitches in your bullpen that week. A typical recovery day should stay the same for you.
If you’re a starter we always recommend a week to look like this:
Friday: start
Saturday: recovery
Sunday: off
Monday: hybrid
Tuesday: bullpen
Wednesday: recovery
Thursday: hybrid/prep
Friday: start
If we flipped the roles, your deload would look a bit different. Let’s say you want to maintain volume and cut down your intensity. You would still maintain the30 plyo throws on your moderate/hybrid day, however, your intensity would sit much lower (think 60-70%). As for your bullpens, we like to utilize short boxes during our deload weeks. This counteracts the argument of “well if it’s a deload week and I only get 15 pitches I can’t get my feel down.” If that’s you, then throw your normal number of pitches in your bullpen at a lesser distance.This will not only create a better feel of all your pitches (if you can maintain your pitch profile at 50 feet on your secondary pitches it will be more effective at 60 feet) but also limit the mid- week stress on your arm. Atypical recovery day should remain the same.
Relievers can be a bit tricky to incorporate a deload. One way we try to combat too heavy of a workload is in their pre-game routine. It never made sense to me why relievers are throwing/long tossing 3 hours before they would get hot that day. We like to get our bodies hot and mobile and then pick up a ball when we must. Relievers can still implement a deload exactly as starters, however, they may need to be ready for a mid-week outing.
FAQ:
Does the deload only apply to throwing?
No, your deload should apply to lifting as well. Take thes ame concepts on intensity/volume and apply them to your lifting program as well.
How often should I deload?
We recommend a deload every 3-4 weeks. This will ensure you’re taking care of your body and are able to maintain your performance throughout an entire season.
For help managing your workload throughout the season reach out to training@connected-performance.com